Why Retreat?: Tactics

There are many reasons why partial and complete, apparent and actual retreats can be of vital strategic importance.

Here are some elemental tactical reasons for Retreating:

To pretend weakness

To make time to observe enemy

To make time to recover

To make time to plan

To lead enemy to more favourable area

To evade attack

To lessen force of enemy blow

To delay battle to a more favourable time

To defuse conflict

To wear out opponent

Study the above list and then take a look at Why Advance?: Tactics. Advance and retreat are conceptual opposites. Try and develop both lists and see how the lists mirror each other. This will help you to build complete non-arbitary lists so that no tactical concept is missed.

*Retreat* is a universal tactic that often receives negative inner bias. Many people come to believe that retreat may be dishonourable and imply cowardice etc so they end up with a distorted view of the universal tactical matrix. Advance and retreat are conceptual equals and by loving and accepting both possibilities within ourselves equally we become free to act in the correct way. This is explained in more detail in the Martial Meditations article.

Technically when we punch: the outward motion of our hand is an *advance* and the returning motion of our hand is a *retreat*. So retreat does not necessarily mean that we are defeated etc. The retreat concept applies to a wide range of actions and situations and we should strive to fully understand it.